"Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."
-- George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

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Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Secular Pope

Again, I mean no personal disprespect to Gerald Ford, who by all accounts was a decent man who did some questionable things for political expediency. It's par for the course, not great, not awful (except, again, for his handling of Indonesia/East Timor, but most of that really falls on Kissinger).

I just find it peculiar, is all, especially for someone who arrived at the office by the accidents of his predecessors' corruptions, and only held office for two uninspired years. They're giving him a Reaganesque sendoff, and the media seems to have broadcast every jot and tittle, as lovingly as two hot coeds gently rubbing baby oil into each others' quivering....sorry, got off on a tangent there.

I dunno. It all plays into the comfortable myth of comity and bipartisanship that the beltway media and their grief pimps always try to peddle. That they milk it for a solid week, at the expense of many other compelling stories that we really should be informed about in more detail.

Even benevolent myth-making should be regarded with some measure of skepticism.

Update: Just watched the NBC Nightly News coverage of today's service, which included clips of Tom Brokaw's eulogy, as well as Brokaw himself in the studio providing additional "commentary". Apparently when Serious Journalists are put out to pasture, the big money's in becoming a court hagiographer. I'm sure the epic tome is forthcoming, praising the cozy centrism that serves as oxygen to the beltway party circuit, aka "contemporary history".